In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: wǔxíng), or the Five Phases, usually translated as five elements, five movements or five steps.
Note that the five elements are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with 5 stages; hence the preferred translation of "Phase" over "Element".
The elements are:
- metal (Chinese: 金, pinyin: jīn, ) ("金" mostly means "gold".)
- wood (Chinese: 木, pinyin: mù)
- water (Chinese: 水, pinyin: shuǐ)
- fire (Chinese: 火, pinyin: huǒ), and
- earth (Chinese: 土, pinyin: tǔ, ).
The system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. It was employed as a device in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as geomancy or Feng shui, astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, music, military strategy and martial arts.
Five elements are shown by the following diagram:
Cycles
The above diagram doctrine of five phases describes two Cycles of Balance, a generating or productive (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destructive (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases.
Generating / Productive Cycle
In Productive cycle, each element produces the next element in complete harmony.
- Fire creates Earth
- Earth bears Metal
- Metal carries Water
- Water nourishes Wood
- Wood nourishes fire
Overcoming / Destructive cycle
The destructive cycle shows the ongoing process of destruction of elements.
- Wood breaks up Earth
- Earth absorbs Water
- Water puts out Fire
- Fire melts Metal
- Metal chop down Wood.
Exhautive cycle and Clashing Cycle
There are also 2 other cycle that also play an important part of feng shui analysis
The Exhautive Cycle (Calming Cycle) is the reverse of the Productive Cycle.
The Clashing Cycle (Draining Cycle) is the opposite of the Destructive Cycle.
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